Trsde Topics

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XIV, Issue 830, 1 February 1906, Page 23

Trsde Topics

Of the earth’s surface 1,500,000 acres are devoted to tobacco culture.

Mr W. G. Rae, late of the Drury Hotel, will soon be in business again.

Changes in the ownership of several Auckland provincial hotels are pending. !_ij

The license of the Fitzroy Hotel, Wakefield-street, was endorsed last w?ek. _!.

Mr. J. Edwards, of the Criterion Hotel, Paeroa, has so)id out h s interest in that house to Mr. Gibson, who hails from Bulls.

Mrs. C. L'ndsay, of the Star Hotel, Kawakawa, has sold out her interest in that hotel to Mr. T. C. Brebner.

Mr. Win. Woodward, who has for some years been in the Mackaytown Hotel, has sold out to Mr. Crean. ♦ * * *

The Whatawhata Hotel is changing hands, Mr. Crosby, junr., of Paeroa, buying out Mr. Brunton.

Mr. Cecil T. Davies, who for some cons derable time successfully conducted the hotel at Mangonui, Bay of Islands, has purchased Mr. D. J. Jackman’s interest in the Waipa Hotel, Ngaruawahia.

It is stated that Mr. J. Dixon Ward, who did such good service by his ecturing before the local opt on poll, has accepted a permanent engagement to remain in Auckland and use his efforts on behalf of the trade.

As an outcome of a recent sly grogselling prosecution in Ashburton a man named Thomas Paterson has been committed for trial for alleged perjury- _ I

Judging from_ the sale of leases wh ch took p ; ace in Rotorua last Friday, speculators have every confidence in the progress of that township. Out of eighty-nine sections submitted thirty-four were so d. In most cases the sections brought more than the upset pr ce, and in some cases double.

Italy has the greatest proportion of criminals. They number 5140 to the million of population.

A young woman named Winnie McNe ii' p eaded guilty in the Magistrate’s Court' last Friday to a charge of having stolen a gold watch from Ernest Hagland, in the Shamrock Hotel, and was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment.

Peter Franchi, a Lower Queenstreet restauranter, was fined £1 and 7s costs, last Friday, for exposing unwho ©some fish for sale.

Hota keepers who have felt the tax of the h gh prices that potatoes have been fetching for some time back will be interested in the figures of the Government biologist, Mr. Kirk, who states that potato growers suffered most serous losses during the past season. The area under potatoes in 1903-4 was 31,778 acres; in 1904-5 it was 26.331 acres, showing a decrease of 5447 acres. Disease has reduced the yield by fulfy two tons per acre, which equals 52,662 tons, which at on’y £3 ner ton means a d’rect loss of £157,986.

People who desire to live to an old age wi'il be interested to learn that according to Dr. Andrew Wi’son, the healthiest homes in England are H's Majesty’s prisons. If all could live under such severely stringent regu’atbins each might attain the age of 100.

The president of the United L.V. Assoc ation of Sydney suggests that performances at the theatres should finish at 10.45 p.m., so as to enable patrons to obtain refreshments at the hotels before the closing hour of eleven.

Violet Henderson, a single woman, pleaded guilty in the local 1 Police Court to charges of hav : ng stolen sundry articles from the room of a Welk lingjon hotel during last month. Accused, who also pleaded guilty to having committed theft from a house in the Rotorua distr ct, was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence.

A gale of wind, something of the nature of a cyclone, struck the buildings in course of erection for the Christchurch Exh bition, and soon had done damage that probably £3OOO wil bo required to put right.

At the Te Awamutu Magistrate’s Court a young half-caste, named Phunga Kat pa, was fined £2, and costs £4 7s, for supply ng beer and lemonade to a native woman.

It is to be hoped that Mr. Jackman who is selling out of the Wa’pa Hotel at Ngaruawahia, will l soon find another hotel to suit him. Gaining valuable exper ence as chief steward for some years in the Northern Company, Mr. Jackman, ably assisted by his wife, know? how to cater for the pub ic in a proper manner, and is of the sort of hotelkeeper that the public and the trade appreciate.

The first hotel in New South Wales to be called upon to pay the marmum icons© fee of £lOO a year is the Grand Central, York-street, Sydney.

the rental of wh’ch was assessed at £3 n oo o voar, which carried the maximum fee.

To preserve the life of a carthorse the property of the Lambeth Borough Council, three hundred both es of “ double stout” were administered.

Last Thursday was the anniversary of Chinaman’s New Year.

In the local Pol’ce Court, last Friday, a prohibition order was issued against Henry William Smith.

In Pers'a there are no distilleries, breweries, or pub ichouses, and native wine is the only intoxicating beverage used.

A man who in Sydney was fined for seling adulterated vinegar, affirmed that his vinegar was made from sour beer and stout purchased from the city breweries. * * * *

The Term : nus Hote? at Helensville, which was burnt down in the end of December, will be shortly rep aced by a new hotel, built in brick. » * * *

J.P. in the King Country fined for giving beer to Maori women.

A man addicted to drinking too much 1 quor who, being admonished by Dr. Laude Brunton, replied, “ You good people have a great deal to say about mv drink, but have nothing to say about my thirst.”

The moisture of the atmosphere in Panama ru’ned ten mi lion pounds worth of the machinery used by the original company.

Mrs. Isabel a Glenn, of the Hotel Metropole at St. Clair, Dunedin, was ’ast week fined £35 and costs, n the Dunedin Magistrate’s Court, for sly grog sei ing. The Metropole was at one time a publichouse, but s’nee the vote of t K ree ■venr- s : -«e has been run as a pr : vate board’nvhouse

A manufacturer of cigars advises smokers to smoke a good cigar slowly, else the combustion will be imperfect and the greater part of that delicate aroma which belongs to a good Havana c gar is lost. No one would think of gulping down old wine as they would buttermilk, and to smoke a fine Havana cigai- rapid y is about as foolish.

The Grand Hotel, corner of Pa merston and Wakefield Streets, Westport (David Leech, proprietor), was established in the year 1875, and is a handsome two-storeyed building of wood and iron, with a balcony on two sides. It contains thirty rooms, ncluding twenty bedrooms, a number of sittingrooms, a commercial room, a fine billiard room, contain ng two tables by Alcock and Wright respectively, and a fine dining-room capable of seating sixty guests. For the con ven ence of commercial men there are also four large sample rooms. The Prince’s Theatre joins the hotel, and has accommodation for 500 persons, and is being entire y renovated.

Mr. David Leech, whose portrait appears in this ssue, has been proprietor of the Grand Hotel, Westport, since the year 1903, was born at Letheringham Woodbridge, Suffolk, England, in 1854. He was educated in h s native place, and learned the trade of a builder, which he followed unt ilt 1888. In 1879 Mr. Leech landed in Port Chalmers by the ship Lizzie Bell, which was lost on the Taranaki coast in the year 1901. After build ng the tannery at G endermid and many othei- buildings Mr. Leech became proprietor of the Railway Hoel, Port Chalmers in 1888. He remained there four years, and then removed to the Prov’ncia Hotel, of which he has acquired the freehold. In the year 1903 he removed to Westport. During his res'dence in Port Chalmers Mr. Leech served for six years as a member of the Borough Council, and was for two years on the Otago Harbour Board. For ten years Mr. Leech was capta n of the Port Chalmers Fire Brigade, and was in 1897 e’ected president of the United Fire Brigades’ Associat on of New Zealand. He is a Freemason and a Past Master of the Port Chalmers Mar’ne Lodge. He is also. a Past Mark Master of the Zealandia Marine Mark Lodge and a Past Z of the Marine Royal Arch Chapter, English Constitution, and Past Z of the Kawatiri Royal Arch Chapter, New Zealand Const’tution. Mr. Leech was one of the founders of the Port Chalmers Druids Lodge, and is a Past Arch Druid. He was for eight years a member of the “ L” Battery Artil'ery Volunteers. He married the eldest daughter of the late E. C. Wood, of Naseby, Otago, and has a daughter and one son.